Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

The bus brakes let out a long, weary sigh as it came to a stop in front of Karasuno High School.

The car door opened, and a mixture of sweat, refrigerant, and the hormones unique to teenagers rushed out. Next came a group of oddly gaiting creatures—after hours of driving, their joints creaked and groaned like rusty gears.

Lu Ren was the last to get off the bus. He slung his backpack over his shoulder, clutching the now-stale chewing gum wrapper in his hand, and glanced at his teammates who were stretching.

"Finally back in the city," he muttered.

For players, the post-dungeon results screen is always tedious. There's no sound of the experience bar increasing, no golden glow of dropped orange gear, only Daichi Sawamura's booming voice directing everyone to move their gear.

"Stop dawdling! Put your things back in the gym first, then dismiss!"

"yes--"

A group of people dragged their feet toward the stadium.

Just then, something unexpected happened.

At the back of the line, Yamaguchi Tadashi, who had been keeping his head down and whose presence was so faint it was like a background image, suddenly stopped. He stood there, his whole body trembling slightly, like an old game controller vibrating.

Hotaru Tsukishima, walking ahead of him, noticed something amiss behind her, stopped, and turned around. Under the streetlight, her black-rimmed glasses reflected a cold, indifferent white light.

"What's wrong, Yamaguchi?" Tsukishima's voice still carried that infuriatingly lazy quality. "Are your legs numb?"

According to the usual script, Yamaguchi should frantically wave his hand at this point, say "Sorry, Tsukishima," and then jog to catch up.

But not today.

Lu Ren leaned against the vending machine at the school gate, watching the scene unfold without any intention of intervening. He was like an NPC who had triggered a plot, standing outside the safe zone watching the cutscene.

Tadashi Yamaguchi abruptly raised his head. His freckled face was contorted with an expression that seemed to be rubbing his features together; it was a battle between extreme fear and some kind of impending urge.

He reached out and grabbed the sleeve of Tsukishima Hotaru's tracksuit.

He gripped it so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"Tsukishima!" Yamaguchi's voice cracked, sounding particularly jarring in the quiet night.

Hinata and Kageyama, who were ahead, were startled. Tanaka Ryunosuke, who had just lifted a box, almost dropped it on his foot. Everyone turned around, and dozens of eyes focused on the two first-year students.

Tsukishima frowned, his gaze falling on his crumpled sleeve, his tone turning cold: "Huh? What's wrong with you?"

"Come with me... come with me for a moment!"

Yamaguchi practically roared, and after shouting those words, his face instantly turned a deep purplish-red. But he didn't let go; instead, he grabbed the blond boy who was a head taller than him and dragged him into the shadows behind the stadium.

Tsukishima clearly hadn't anticipated that this "follower" who always followed him around would have such explosive power. He stumbled and was forcibly dragged away from the main road.

"Hey, Yamaguchi, I'm so tired..."

"Just a moment! Quickly!"

The two of them disappeared around the corner, pulling and tugging at each other.

The scene was deathly silent.

Three seconds later, Tanaka finally closed his gaping mouth, looking at Sawamura Daichi with a horrified expression: "Daichi-senpai, is this... is this going to be a fight? Or a confession?"

Sugawara Koji stroked his chin thoughtfully: "That Yamaguchi kid, he usually looks so soft, but he's actually quite strong when he gets angry."

Hinata Shoyo, still oblivious to the situation, tilted his head and asked Kageyama, "Should we go and break up the fight?"

Kageyama was busy scooping a carton of milk from the vending machine, not even turning his head: "Idiot, that's their business."

Lu Ren spat the chewing gum into the wrapper, crumpled it into a ball, and accurately threw it into the trash can next to him.

"Three points." He voiced to himself, then dusted off his hands. "Alright, stop looking. That's a side quest, it has nothing to do with the main story. Hurry up and move your things, I want to go home and sleep."

Qingze Yazhi leaned closer, nudged his waist with her elbow, and whispered, "You did this?"

"What do you mean I did it?" Lu Ren feigned ignorance. "I was just a helpful citizen passing by."

"Come on." Yazhi rolled her eyes. "I saw you whispering with Yamaguchi in the car. What kind of spell did you cast on him? That's Tsukishima, you know, the most defensive and sharp-tongued monster in all of Karasuno. How could Yamaguchi possibly break through his defenses?"

"If you swing the hoe well, no corner is too hard to dig down." Lu Ren shrugged, picking up a volleyball basket. "Besides, that's not some kind of magic potion, it's a system patch. Tsukishima's machine has high specs, but the system is too old, so someone has to force a restart."

Yazhi watched Lu Ren's retreating figure, then glanced at the corner where the two disappeared, and shook her head.

"What an awkward bunch of guys."

……

The stadium was brightly lit.

Everyone was busy putting away the supplies used for the expedition. Although they were physically exhausted, the sense of security of returning to "base camp" made the atmosphere relatively relaxed. Hinata and Kageyama started arguing again because they were fighting over who would mop the floor, and each of them was punched by Yoshinogi before they quieted down.

Lu Ren sat by the stage, holding a tactical board in his hand, seemingly organizing data, but actually staring at the door.

Ten minutes have passed.

They haven't come back yet.

"They're not really going to fight, are they?" Hitoka Yachi trembled, clutching a stack of towels. "Tsukishima-kun looks like someone you shouldn't mess with..."

"Don't worry." Lu Ren twirled the pen in his hand. "Tsukishima is an intelligence-type hero; his melee ability is only at the level of a super minion. Yamaguchi may look weak, but even a cornered rabbit will bite."

Just then, footsteps came from the doorway.

The once noisy stadium instantly quieted down, and everyone's eyes turned to the entrance.

The first one to walk in was Tadashi Yamaguchi.

The young man had his head down, walked with his arms and legs moving in unison, and looked like a drowned rat just pulled from the water, exuding a sense of exhaustion. But upon closer inspection, his shoulders were no longer hunched over as before; instead, they showed a relaxed air, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

He walked straight to the corner, picked up the mop and started working, his movements so vigorous it looked like he was scrubbing the floor raw, completely daring not to look at the people around him.

Immediately afterwards, Hotaru Tsukishima walked in.

Lu Ren narrowed his eyes, his gaze locking onto the tall, blond man.

There were no bruises or swelling on his face, and his clothes weren't disheveled. It seems no one laid a hand on him.

However, Tsukishima's expression... was very strange.

His face usually wore a sarcastic expression that said, "I've seen through everything, so I find it boring," or a cold indifference that kept people at arm's length.

But now, that face is blank.

It was like a computer screen that had just restarted after a blue screen, still loading desktop icons—that blank space. His brow wasn't furrowed, and his signature fake smile wasn't playing on his lips. He had headphones around his neck, but he wasn't wearing them.

He walked in, his gaze not focused on anyone, and mechanically walked to the basket, picking up a volleyball.

He stared at the ball for a long time.

Just as Tanaka was about to go up and ask, "Are you alright?", Tsukishima suddenly moved. He threw the ball into the basket and turned to grab the mop.

He paused for a moment as he passed by Lu Ren.

Lu Ren didn't look up, continuing to draw incomprehensible symbols on the tactics board.

Tsukishima didn't speak, but gave Lu Ren a deep look. The usual disdain was gone from his eyes; instead, there was a strange emotion, extremely complex, like someone who had been forced to eat a bite of wasabi cake.

Those are cracks left after one's worldview was shaken.

Then, he walked past Lu Ren and went to the other side to mop the floor.

"puff."

Lu Ren couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Ya-Chih, who was standing next to her, was startled: "What are you laughing at? That's creepy."

"Nothing much." Lu Ren closed his tactical board, in a good mood. "I just received a very interesting bug fix report."

"ha?"

"That 'rational monster' has finally discovered a huge loophole in his logical loop." Lu Ren stood up, stretched, and his bones cracked. "That Yamaguchi kid did a good job."

Although we don't know exactly what Yamaguchi said or what methods he used.

Was it yelled out? Was it cried out? Or did he really grab her by the collar and yell at her?

None of that matters.

Importantly, a crack was knocked into the shell of Tsukishima Kei's "passing grade mentality".

As long as there's a crack, light can shine in. Or rather, for Karasuno and his gang of lunatics, as long as there's a crack, they can forcibly inject the virus called "Hot-Blooded."

"gather!"

The whistle of Sawamura Daichi rang out.

Everyone put down what they were doing and quickly lined up in front of the net.

Coach Ukai Shishin stood at the front, arms crossed. He looked at the group of boys, whose faces were tired but whose eyes were noticeably sharper than before they set off, and nodded in satisfaction.

"How did you feel about this expedition to Tokyo?"

"I'm exhausted!" Hinata exclaimed first.

"That's because you ran off!" Kageyama added insult to injury.

"But..." Daichi Sawamura continued, his gaze sweeping over everyone before finally settling on Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, "we see the gap. A huge gap."

The stadium fell silent.

"Otoko's defense, Fukudani's offense, and those strong teams we've never seen before." Sawamura clenched his fist. "We're still a 'fallen powerhouse,' a team that's called 'the crow that can't fly.'"

"but!"

Hinata Shoyo suddenly took a step forward, his orange eyes burning with fierce flames.

"We can fly! We will become stronger! Next time... next time we will definitely win!"

"oh!!!"

Tanaka and Nishiya started yelling, instantly igniting the atmosphere.

Lu Ren stood at the edge of the group, watching this bunch of hot-blooded idiots. He turned his head and glanced at Tsukishima.

Hotaru Tsukishima didn't shout along, nor did he show his usual disgusted expression. He simply stood there, his eyes lowered, looking at his palms.

Then, his palm slowly clenched.

Although the amplitude was very small, so small that it was almost invisible.

But Lu Ren saw it.

"That's right." Lu Ren mentally marked this chapter as "completed".

"Alright, dismissed! Go back and get some rest. Starting tomorrow, we'll have special training for the Spring High School Qualifying Tournament!" Coach Ukai waved his hand.

"yes!!!"

The crowd dispersed, and people walked towards the changing rooms in twos and threes.

Lu Ren deliberately slowed down, falling behind. When Yamaguchi Tadashi passed by, he reached out and patted Yamaguchi hard on the back.

"Snapped!"

The sound was crisp and clear.

"Whoa!" Yamaguchi nearly jumped up in surprise. "Lu-Lu Ren-senpai?!"

"Well done." Lu Ren didn't say much, just those four words, then put his hands in his pockets and swaggered away.

Yamaguchi stood frozen in place. He touched his burning back and glanced at Tsukishima's retreating figure ahead of him.

Tsukishima seemed to sense something, stopped, and turned his head.

"Let's go, Yamaguchi."

The voice remained calm, but it lacked that aloofness that kept people at arm's length.

"Ah...yes! Here we come, Tsukishima!"

Tadashi Yamaguchi grinned foolishly and chased after him, backpack in hand.

Lu Ren stepped out of the stadium and took a deep breath. The night breeze from the palace carried a hint of coolness, dispelling the stale air in the carriage.

"Next..."

He looked up at the night sky; the stars were very bright.

The puzzle pieces are now complete.

The rational mind is rebooting, the instincts of the beast are being honed, and the strongest bait is in place.

"It's about time to prepare a generous gift for that 'Great Demon King'."

Lu Ren took out a new piece of chewing gum from his pocket, unwrapped it, and popped it into his mouth.

The spiciness of the mint exploded in my mouth, stimulating my nerves.

The game has officially entered its second phase.